Lawn Renovation Tips
Whether you realize it or not, your lawn goes through a lot. Homeowners and professional landscapers work hard to ensure their turf looks healthy and lush. After all, your lawn isn’t going to take care of itself! It’s inevitable that your turf will require attention, especially after a long season of inclement weather, summertime activity, or an unfortunate invasion of unwanted pests. There are a number of obstacles to overcome if you want to keep your lawn looking good.
Here at FMI Equipment, we want our customers to have all the tools they need to do their job, whether that’s general landscaping, lawn care, or simple clearing overgrown bush. Be sure to visit our dealership in Spokane Valley near Spokane, Washington today! We also proudly serve Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. We’ve got an impressive selection of lawn mowers for sale and would be happy to help you find the one that’s right for you.
Low Sunlight
There are some types of grass that do better in areas with low sunlight exposure. Keep in mind, though, even these shade-loving varieties can find themselves starving for sunlight in certain situations. The best lawn care solution to use here is trimming and pruning the surrounding trees and bushes to let the sunlight in. This can be a challenging task because if you prune too much, you can damage trees and bushes. It might be a better idea to replace these patches with different ground cover.
Bald Spots
Bare patches of turf are the perfect environment for weeds to spread and muck up your otherwise flawless landscaping. One way to handle this is with overseeding. This will fill in those bare spots and strengthen the overall state of your turf. Unfortunately, overseeding does require quite a bit of preparation and produces the best results when it’s done over the entire lawn. For smaller patches, you may need to dig in and solve the problem at the source.
In order to patch small spots, dig up the section that’s damaged and a bit of the surrounding area that’s still in decent shape. You’ll want to level the soil and add some ready compost or starter fertilizer. When using grass seed, allow for some light ground cover and keep the area extra moist for 2 to 4 weeks or so until the grass germinates. When using sod, cut a section to fit the excavated area and continue to water often until the sod takes root.
Managing Crabgrass
It’s no secret that invading grasses will muck up the uniform aesthetic that you worked so hard to achieve. The most common culprit is crabgrass. Fortunately, crabgrass isn’t fit for surviving colder months and usually dies off after the first frost. You might be left with bald spots and soil erosion. You want to take care of crabgrass and other unwanted grasses early on. Herbicides can handle the issue, but be sure to select one that you can use to target the grass without damaging the rest of the turf. Whatever method you choose to remove weeds, follow it up with a few mowing practices to keep the issue at bay, like a higher cut to discourage new growth.
Eliminating Pests
The only thing worse than the presence of pests in your lawn is the damage that they can cause, like eating grass roots and leaving you with dead grass. To make matters worse, they can attract predators, like moles and raccoons, which can lead to even more damage to your turf. Healthy turf can survive a few pests, but it isn’t fit for handling vermin.
If you notice signs of damage due to pests, you might need to seek professional lawn care treatment. A proper fix will come down to determining the species causing the damage in the first place. Some preventative pesticides can help reduce the invasion, which is best to apply early in the growing season. Active measures are best left to the end of the season since it might cause collateral damage to your turf.
Eager for more lawn care tips? Stop by FMI Equipment in Spokane Valley near Spokane, Washington, and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. If you’re in the market for a new lawn mower, we’ve got plenty of models available for you to choose from. We also offer rentals, financing, service, and parts at our dealership.